


The Casino Was Probably a Bad Idea

by jishfish



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gay, Las Vegas, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, On the Run, Pining, Road Trips, Slow Build, Slow Burn, brendon's really soft, josh and bren are vamps, josh is young for a vamp and bren is even younger, joshs pov, like a lot of pining, some jealousy, ty and dallon are human, ty makes josh vulnerable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 08:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15068873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jishfish/pseuds/jishfish
Summary: Josh needed to teach Brendon how to control his hunger.Now, they’re driving out of Vegas with attractive men in their backseat while being chased by two blondes they hit with their car.





	1. PROLOGUE

It's painful, the transition. It's excruciating, and looking at him now, I remember my own all too clearly. It's a lot of the reason I wish he hadn’t done this, apart from not telling me. He has no idea what burden he just put on the man. The eternal, shithole existence is brutal on its own, but the changes the transition does to your body is another thing in itself.

We're bred to kill, to feed. The venom, virus, whatever is injected into you when you're bitten, does more than just give you fangs then send you on your way. You have to be able to tempt your prey.

So the venom decides to... make a few changes to your body. Maybe it breaks your nose in just the right way or maybe it pushes down on your stomach and attacks it's walls leaving you throwing up blood and bile and "unnecessary flesh" to flatten it out. 

It takes hours, and depending on how fucked up you are, days even before the pain begins to subside. Shaking, with sweat stuck to your heated skin, the agony almost dissipates.

Then you stand up. And you walk away.

Maybe when the first vampires were created, there was a reason for it. Maybe they served a purpose. Maybe they were taught restraint and control by someone back then. But there's no one like that now, at least no one I’ve ever met. 

I guess vampires have to learn by experience and mistakes, which is honestly, quite dangerous. It ends with people dead and an almost eternally growing body count, at least for those with a conscience. It's worse for the ones who don't care, or the ones that used to and have given up. Their remorse has been used up over the centuries or wasn't even there when they were human.

There's no one in control over us either. There are no laws we have to abide by which, in turn, could be a good thing. There's nobody in charge, no one person or people we have to obey. We can live our hellish lives quietly. Maybe there was a monarchy or some ten commandments originally. But whatever that was has gone to shit by now, I'm sure.

Now, we're just hell on earth. Capable of death in moments, and doomed. Doomed for all eternity. To never be happy, never be satisfied. Well, that’s what I think. 

But who says we don't deserve it? I think its an appropriate punishment for the things that we do. It's proper punishment for merely being the thing that we are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this is a lil dramatic but just stick with it it gets wild and gay quick


	2. CLEANUP

My hands gripped the thin, white cotton of the man's coat, dragging his heavy body across the linoleum floors. The artificial lights above me flickered in warning, a chemical glow illuminating our surroundings. 

"What the hell did you think was gonna happen, _Boyd_?" I hissed. I shoved my hands underneath the man's arms before hoisting his body up and heaving it onto the awaiting gurney with a grunt. 

"When I told you my full name it was in _confidence_!" He whispered with wide eyes, as I straightened out the man's limbs so they lined up with the confines of the stretcher.

I turned to him, fuming. "Well, this is the second person you've killed this month so I think I have a right to be mad, _Boyd_." I stuck a finger in his chest before walking into the broom closet next to us with a huff.

Boyd followed me, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry!" He said, shrugging his shoulders and exposing his hands.

I shut my eyes, breathing deeply. I tried to let out a shaky breath, but that quickly changed as a low growl came out of my throat before I grabbed a folded white sheet from the shelf in front of me and hurled it at the boy. He caught it and I released a deep shout of anger I’d been holding in since I found the body, cleanching my fists in attempts to not choke him into silence.

"We came here for a raid, thats it. Now I'm stuck cleaning up your mess like I always do." I pushed past him, snatching the sheet from his hands on my way.

I threw the cloth onto the body, digging the heels of my palms into my eyes. " _God, Brendon_." I muttered under my breath.

I rubbed my eyes before putting both of my hands against the gurney, leaning against it. I breathed through my nose. He didn't always know what he was doing and I knew that. But, I still couldn't ignore the looming fear that passed over me every time Brendon fed, and this was a prime example of why. I shut my eyes again to try and calm my breathing before I spoke again.

I heard Brendon's hesitant steps behind me, no doubt chewing on his cuticles like he did when he was nervous, which was usually when I yelled at him.

"M'sorry." He said quietly, the words muffled through his fingers. I almost smiled.

I couldn't look at him though. I hated having to yell at him. He was too young to be going through this.

Brendon was sixteen when I found him three years ago, writhing in the dark streets of some town I don't remember the name of, but I'm sure Brendon does. I bet he could tell you the exact street corner he was on. Brendon remembers stuff like that.

I took care of him while he transitioned, nursing him with blood bags in the back of my car to curb his terrifying hunger, and have been looking after him ever since. He was like family now and I hated having to discipline him.

"It's just dangerous, okay? I don't want anything to happen to you." I said sternly, keeping my eyes on the ground.

" _We_ are dangerous, Josh." Brendon spoke bitterly.

"What we _do_ is dangerous, who we _are_ is dangerous." He scoffed. "Nothing about our existence is safe! You think I don't know that?" He took long strides toward me, pushing me off the stretcher with hard shove of his shoulder, leaving me stumbling to the side.

"Move, I can clean my own mess." He grumbled.

My eyes flamed with disbelief as I clenched my fists. "Brendon." I said, cautiously trying to keep my tone even. He refused to look at me as he spread out the white sheet across the body.

" _Brendon_." I repeated.

The boy walked behind the stretcher, beginning to push it down the hall. I scoffed and went to walk in front of it, the dirty wheels squeaking against the linoleum as I stopped it with my hand.

He snapped his head up. "You need to stop treating me like a kid." He said immediately, his eyes blazing with a youthful fury.

My mouth opened wide, almost laughing. "You want me to do that after the stunt you pulled tonight?"

"It wasn't a stunt!" He whined.

I'm surprised he didn't even stomp his foot.

I grabbed my end of the gurney, tugging it towards the elevators. Brendon let the metal slip through his fingers as he began to walk behind me.

"You made sure I was busy _persuading_ the whole floor with memory loss for the next hour and then you went ahead and started feeding and couldn't stop til' the guy was drained." I drawled on, pressing the down button on the elevators.

"You didn't think about whether or not you would be seen, if your victim would be missed-" I continued.

"That's not what happened!"

I turned to him, tired of excuses. "It was stupid, it was unnecessary, and it sure as hell was disrespectful towards me."

"You need to learn control." I pointed a finger at him. I tried to ignore how much I was really starting to look like his dad.

The silver elevator doors opened, a soft chime ringing out. I pushed the gurney inside the elevator and leaned against the metal wall, Brendon quickly wedging himself in beside it. I glanced at him as the doors began to close.

"I might just have to leave you behind if you don't."


	3. ATTITUDE

Brendon sat in the passenger seat of the car, his head turned toward the window. My fingers tapped at the wheel anxiously, unable to keep my eyes off of him. The boy was sulking, not having spoken a single word since we started driving hours ago.

My eyes moved from the road in front of me to him once again. "Are you going to give me the silent treatment all night?"

Brendon shifted in his seat, keeping his gaze on whatever was outside, which couldn't have been much. We were on a highway somewhere in Nevada. Our path was shadowed by groups of cars that were spread out across road we shared, strangers and a soft glow of the moon being our only consistent company.

We moved around the country almost constantly, to keep from becoming too suspicious in one area. Too many people go missing, too many hospitals raided, things stack up against you and then you have to leave.

I didn't have to do it as often before Brendon. I used to stay in an area for months, and if it was a big enough city, sometimes a year. People went missing or wound up dead without my help, so if I added a few to the body count it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary. Stage an accident, scrape up the body a bit, and no one would be the wiser.

But sometimes it was just difficult staying in one place for so long, knowing I couldn’t get close to any of the people around me. Loneliness was inevitable. They were gonna die and I wasn’t. It seemed simple, but my chest would always ache every time that dull, painful desire of attachment would creep back into my mind.

I had run into few, very few vampires in my short time of being one. Brendon was one of them. But, the problem with vampires fresh out of the transition was the fact that they were starving and so incredibly impulsive and reckless. I knew when I found Brendon, that he would cause a massacre his first night if we weren't careful. I started him out with hospital raids and let him feast on blood bags. However, trucks full of blood that go missing are odd, even for the metropolitan cities we lived in. So now we move every few weeks and keep a low profile. It's what keeps us safe.

The road tumbled beneath our car, a small bright city popping out of the right corner of my vision. Lights dazzled in the varying shapes of signs we couldn't quite read yet, and I could hear the ruckus coming from inside the buildings from here. Granted, because of the venom that coursed through my veins, I had better hearing than most but still.

The car grew closer towards the sparkling town. The sound of levers in slot machines being pushed down and dice rolls scattering across velvet tables echoed in my ears. No doubt we were on our way to Vegas now. These were probably just a few small casinos before we got to the main strip.

"I grew up here." Brendon finally spoke up.

I turned to him with furrowed brows. "What?" I questioned instantly, more surprised that he spoke than by what he actually said. I brought my eyes back to the road that was beginning to clog up with more cars.

"I grew up here." He repeated. "I'm from Las Vegas." Brendon didn't look away from the window, the multicolored lights twinkling upon his face and reflecting in his dark eyes.

"I didn't find you in Vegas." I whispered to myself, trying to rack my brain for the city or state I was in. The boy beside me laughed.

"I was away from home." He chuckled.

"What were you doing, Brendon?" I groaned in accusation.

I couldn't believe I'd never asked even something simple like that before. I'd extracted a cautious amount of information from Brendon these last few years. Even with how desperate I was for connection, he always seemed to be pretty careful emotionally. Which was surprising to me, never having met a teenager that didn’t like talking about themselves. It was only in recent times, on quiet nights with the radio off, that he shared more than necessary.

The smile fell from his face softly. "Some stuff."

"Fun stuff?" I asked hopefully.

Brendon finally turned his gaze toward me. "Yeah. _Real_ fun stuff."

We both chucked, an easiness settling back into the air. My body suddenly jolted down into the seat, my grip on the wheel tightening. A dip in the road made my _Chevelle_ bump across the asphalt, scraping the underside of the car as the tires pushed the vehicle along.

"Shit." I muttered, feeling the body in the back hit the roof of the trunk. I glanced at the back of the car before looking back at the highway in front of me. "We should get rid of that thing soon." I said, motioning towards the back.

Brendon huffed. "Do you think we could dump it anywhere around here?"

I shook my head. "No, the smoke would be obvious so close to a tourist area like this." I looked around for upcoming exit signs or forks in the road. Brendon looked down, shifting in his seat once again.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, his eyes on his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry about Collins. And for always making things hard on you." He picked at his cuticles.

"Collins?" I asked softly, glancing at him.

"That's the name of the doctor. The, the guy I," He grumbled, finally bringing his eyes up to look at me. "That I _drained_." He muttered. "At least that's what the name tag on his coat said. Dr. Collins."

I felt a dark hand squeeze the empty, hungry pit of my stomach with regret. I hated how my bitter words translated from my tongue to his.

He remembered the guy's name.

I rested my head against the leather of my seat, sighing. _Goddamnit_. 

Brendon leaned toward me. "I wanna get better though." He began, with a naive hope glimmering in his eyes. "I can train. I know I fuck things up all the time but-"

"Don't say that." I said immediately. "You don’t.”

His tone grew serious. "I need to learn, you said it yourself."

" _Yeah_ , no shit you need to learn."  I scoffed before I could stop myself.

Brendon furrowed his eyebrows. I could feel his disgusting indignation towards me vibrating off of his body without even looking at him.

"Fucking forget it." He muttered, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms. " _Prick_."

A shot of anger pulsed through me at his arrogance, my neck suddenly hot and my knuckles white. I swerved, pulling the wheel angrily and turning the car off onto the nearest exit. The gravity of it all forced Brendon to knock his skull against the thick glass of the door’s window, a hard thud accompanying the squeal of tires.

My eyes scanned the horizon, pushing my foot on the gas and making the engine growl loudly as we flew across the asphalt. I reared us towards the closest sign from the city we'd seen from the highway. The dark haired boy beside me rubbed the back of his head.

"Josh, what're y-"

I cut Brendon off, but not before I noticed the fear in his voice. I veered the car once again and hit a dip that separated the main road from a parking lot, head on. Brendon's whole body shifted downward before jolting up, hitting his head on the roof of the car, his hands splaying across it to stop himself. "Shit!" He exclaimed. "Stop it, Josh!"

I kept my eyes on the road, making one last swerve into a parking spot, causing the car to screech and Brendon's entire body slamming against the right side of the car from force. The boy groaned from his spot on the leather.

I turned the car off and turned and grabbed his slumped body so it faced me. I pressed my fingers against the flesh of his cheeks and turned him to look at me. Brendon's eyes were dark, sullen as they stared back at me.

"You need to learn control. Control your hunger, your impulse, and your fucking attitude." I spit. I released his face slowly, beginning to breathe again. "We need to respect each other. Especially if I'm going to teach you. You're gonna need to trust me and do the things I fucking tell you to do."

Brendon's nostrils flared, his eyes not leaving mine. Both of our harsh breaths competed against each other to see which of us was more aggravated by the other.

I finally closed my eyes. "I'm just trying to keep you safe, Brendon."

"I know." He growled without missing a beat.

I let a silence, that sounded more like provoked bees in our ears, wrap around us. Even our softening breaths sounded angry. I heard the echoes of people cheering from inside the building we were parked in front of. Brendon's jaw clenched at the casino sounds that I knew he was hearing too.

"We really don't know each other do we?" I asked suddenly.

Brendon looked down, his lips quirking up into a small smirk. "Yeah." He chuckled. "I'm just your responsibility and your just a pain in my ass."

I let out a short laugh, bringing my eyes to look out the windshield. "Yeah, you're right."

He sighed. "I mean, would you even want to?" Brendon asked softly. "Get to know me?"

I turned to look at him, nodding. "Of course I do. I _should_ know more. I just never wanted to push you."

A smile was set on Brendon’s lips but he said nothing.

I glanced up at the glittering red and white bulbs that danced on the border of the casino sign above us. "You ever been here before?" I wondered out loud.

Brendon leaned forward onto the dash, glancing up like I had. "This one? Yeah, maybe once or twice." He grinned. "Fake I.D.s aren't too hard to come by these days." He winked.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Do you wanna take me inside? Tell me about it?" I asked. Nervousness bit my tongue and softened my words.

"Are you sure we have time?" He said doubtfully, his head nodding towards the trunk.

I smiled at him. "I think we can take a little break. Body's still fresh. We have some time before it starts to stink. If you want.”

Brendon smiled softly. "Well, if I take you in and tell you about my possibly illegal adventures will you be mad?"

I laughed out loud, beginning to take the keys out of the ignition.

"Can't be worse than what we do now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy pride i love love


	4. THE NIGHT WE MET

"You hid _under_ the bathroom sink?" I laughed loudly, a hand on my chest and the other on my drink.

My eyes, ears, and cheeks were a cherry red from the laughter and alcohol sprinting through my system. If our livers weren't regenerating at the rate they were right now, Brendon and I would probably be suffering from alcohol poisoning right about now.

"I had to!" Brendon exclaimed. "We couldn't have his mom finding a closeted gay boy like me on my knees in front of their _son_." He laughed loudly, rubbing his reddening eyes.

"Who I assume was another closeted gay boy?" I chuckled.

"Yup." He smiled, his white teeth shining. "Even if his mom caught us, I think she'd be more mad over the fact that I give better blowjobs than she does."

I snickered as I took a sip of my dark whiskey. "Gross, you're like my brother. I don't wanna think about that." I laughed behind my glass.

Brendon took a sip of his beer (that I'm sure he hated) and smiled at me. "You think of me as your brother?" He asked softly.

I glanced at him, my brown eyes tinged pink. "Yeah, I do." I put my arm out and held him by his shoulder. "A punk ass little brother that our parents make me babysit all the time even though he's old enough to watch himself." I smiled.

Brendon laughed and took another drink. I grinned, an idea coming to mind. I pulled cash out of my back pocket and set it on the bar, slinging an arm around the boy's shoulder.

He furrowed his brows at me at the action and I downed the rest of my drink, cheeks full as I smiled at him. "And like a good brother does," I began, walking him away from the main bar and towards the casino that swirled with the stench of cigarettes. "I need to get my little bro laid."

Brendon immediately rolled his eyes, chuckling as he glanced at me. "What?"

I wrapped my arm tighter around his neck as we weaved our way through the drunk individuals that crowded around the slot machines and craps tables. The alcohol on people's breaths only added to the rancid smell in the room.

"Well, a truly _good_ big brother, would be his little brother's wingman." I explained. "So..." I began, taking a quick scan of the people in the room. "Who you looking at tonight?"

The boy sighed with a grin. "Why are you doing this, Josh?"

The smile on my face faltered, my eyes meeting his confused gaze. I shrugged, letting my arm slip from his shoulders and leaning the two of us against an unoccupied, colorful machine.

"Okay, you said you wanted to train right?"

He nodded.

"Well, think of this as one last cleanse. Get all the crazy shit out of your system now so we can really focus these next few years."

Brendon's eyes widened, almost backing away from me in shock. "Years!"

"Well this whole control thing is gonna take a while, Brendon. Your hunger is ravenous and it's insatiable. It claws at your thoughts night and day and controls everything you do." I said slowly.

Brendon seemed almost caught off guard by my words.

"With our strengths and abilities, our addiction ends in death. The death of others, for eternity." I sighed suddenly, quickly wishing that I had a drink in my hand that I could throw back. At least then I would have a few moments to focus on the short burn in my throat instead of trying to avoid outright saying that his entire existence would be an exhausting fight between himself and the bloodthirsty demon in the pit of his stomach that would never leave him alone.

I shook my head. "It's shitty and I'm sure it always has been. But there are others who have done it. Others who haven't let the hunger control them."

"Like you." Brendon interrupted confidently.

My breath hitched, my immediate skepticism of his words strangling my windpipe for a moment. I curled my fingers into a fist. _He was wrong_.

I was careful with my words. "I have some control. But I've made... some mistakes the short time I've been alive."

" _Alive_." Brendon chuckled.

I punched his arm, grinning playfully. "Fuck off."

We both smiled widely at each other, a trusting sense of admiration in our eyes.

"Do you get what I mean though?" I asked finally. He nodded and looked up at me, eyes resigning with surrender.

He smirked. "So does this mean I can do anything I want tonight?" Excitement glimmered in his words.

"There are boundaries."

Brendon groaned, leaning his head back against the machine. "God, _what_?"

"No feeding tonight. Don't be a spectacle. No police."

"You're taking the fun out of this and it hasn't even started yet." He mumbled.

I scoffed. "Sex and alcohol isn't enough for you?"

Brendon glanced at me. "Were you serious about the whole wingman thing?"

I shrugged my shoulders and the young boy smiled, eyes eagerly beginning to sweep the room.

"Just remember one thing, yeah?" I leaned into his ear. "I'm always gonna be nearby. And I can hear _everything_."

Brendon's eyes shifted warily to mine. "Ewww." He groaned. 

I leaned back, content. "Now who we looking for tonight? Tall, dark, handsome? Blue eyes? Twink?"

Brendon didn't even look at me. "Please stop saying words."

I grinned. "How about we start with the guy that's been staring at you since we got here?"

Brendon's big brown eyes immediately flicked to mine, his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

I chuckled, nodding my head in the direction of a poker table. "Giraffe, ten o' clock." Brendon's gaze immediately transferred from mine, to a stranger at the table.

He was probably the tallest guy in the room, his brown hair slicked up with a few strands tumbling down his forehead like an unkempt Clark Kent. He looked uncomfortable, his hands fidgeting. As soon as Brendon made eye contact, the boy averted his gaze to the ground before bringing it back to the table he was standing by.

I watched as Brendon smiled at the other boy's reaction to being caught staring. "He's cute." He said, without bringing his eyes away from the brunet. I grinned.

He looked down suddenly. "He's probably too nice for me." He said abruptly.

I furrowed my brows. "What're you talking about?"

Brendon opened his mouth then closed it, shaking his head. "I dunno, he looks like someone I'd marry, not just have a quick fuck with."

I chucked. "Haven't even spoken to him yet and you're already on to marriage." 

He shrugged. "You know what I mean." He glanced over at the other boy again. The dark haired stranger was turned towards the poker table, his fingers tapping his thigh.

Brendon looked like he was almost talking to himself. "He seems nice. Like he has feelings. I've fucked up a lot of things and I don't want to fuck him up too."

I furrowed my brows at the sudden sting, the regret in his words. But before I could question him about what the hell he thought he was talking about, a blonde sauntered our way, slowing down as he got to Brendon and eyeing the boy up and down like a meal.

Scruff peppered the blonde’s face and his eyes were dark. He let his hand slide up Brendon's chest and rest on his shoulder. I immediately straightened up, ready to defend him if necessary. 

"What you lookin’ so sad for big boy?" His overly sugary voice asked, a fake pout plumping his lips.

To my surprise, Brendon glanced at me with a sly grin, his hand coming to rest upon the stranger's. He looked back at the dirty blonde, his eyes playfully devilish. "You wanna make me feel better?"

He smirked, pulling Brendon's hand along, beginning to drag him away from me. Brendon grumbled in my ear before leaving, "Now _he's_ someone you can just fuck."

 

()

 

I sat on the dirty steps outside of the casino, needing a break from the choking air. I wondered what I was even thinking, just leaving Brendon to do whatever he wanted for the night. 

I knew he was fine though. I could hear him. He was currently booking the cheapest room in the hotel and I'm sure was well on his way to having a _great_ time in there with that blonde. Thank god he was okay, but I hated having to hear all the adolescent, giggly foreplay. Just _fuck_ already.

That's why I stayed in the casino for so long after he left. At least it was loud in there.

The warm breeze blew in my face and I looked around at all the sad, lost souls surrounding me. Las Vegas seems glittering and glamorous from the outside, but at 3 A.M., on the front steps to the casino you thought you'd win it all at, you see a lot of sorrow.

Broke, drunk, morons. All stumbling about, some crying, some mortified, and most frantic and not knowing what the hell they're going to tell their wives about why there's more than just a few thousand gone missing from their bank account. Or how they're going to look her in the eye after having a short, drunken affair with another woman. Or man.

Poor sons of bitches.

"It kinda sucks doesn't it?"

I jumped, my shoulders tense as I turned my head to look behind me.

A tall lanky kid in a red flannel was looking at me, leaning against the handrail opposite of mine. Jesus, he looked even younger than the guy Brendon and I saw inside.

"Sorry!" He chucked, coming closer but standing a comfortable distance away. "Didn't mean to scare you." The corners of his mouth lifted up just enough to be considered a smile as he spoke.

I liked his smile but I didn't say anything.

When he noticed my silence he looked away. "You probably don't wanna talk."

I looked out to the dark parking lot, quiet with store signs flickering and stumbling idiots abound, expecting the kid to just go away eventually. Most people don't try to imitate conversation with me anyways, the ones that do usually just shut up or walk away. But this kid didn't. 

"It really does suck though you know? Just how they came out here for some quick cash and a few drinks and now they're close to dead in a gutter with empty pockets." He continued, unprompted.

I glanced at him. 

"Do you speak from experience?" I said with a small smirk, unable to help myself.

He met my gaze and grinned, wide and pretty, before looking down. "Don't tell my mom." He laughed quietly.

I smiled at him. He seemed sweet. Probably as sweet as you could get around here.

"How old even are you?" I chuckled, turning to face him a bit more. "I bet you're barely even sixteen." 

He glared at me, shaking his head. "I'm twenty-four." He grumbled. 

"That's a lie." I said with raised eyebrows.

He shook his head, not looking at me. Instead, he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

I grinned widely. "Yeah, _definitely_ sixteen. The eye roll. The sullen silence. The fucking _flannel_. The only thing you're missing is some eyeliner."

His face broke out into a smile and he bent over with arms crossed, in laughter. I couldn't help the smile that split my face wide open at the sound of him laughing. I chuckled along too, but really only cause he made me want to.

He straightened back up, a bright grin still glittering on his face. "I'm Ty." He reached his hand out.

I shook his hand. "Joshua."

"I like it." He said immediately. 

"My name?" 

He nodded.

I laughed again. "It's not even what I usually call myself. Everyone calls me Josh." 

Ty raised his eyebrows. "Everyone?" He looked around, raising his eyebrows. "You mean you're friends with all these lovely people here?"

"Everyone means Brendon, smartass." I chuckled. "My friend. Kinda my only one." 

"Cute." He smiled softly.

God, _this_ kid was cute. And stupidly so. Especially his smile. His bottom row of teeth were awfully crooked but it worked for him. He was genuinely happy when he smiled and I really liked it.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. 

"My name's actually Tyler. I actually hate being called Ty." His eyebrows screwed up in confusion as he smiled at the ground. "I dunno why I even told you that."

He laughed and I smiled at the sound.

"So, what's a kid like you doing around here?" I asked.

"I told you I'm twenty- four." He huffed. "I have every right to be here."

I wandered over to him, leaning on the same handrail as him, letting our shoulders bump together. His eyes flicked to mine before facing forward again.

I crossed my arms. "Yeah, well you're smart enough to know not to gamble in a rigged tourist attraction like this. So what're you doing here?" I lowered my voice, allowing my eyes to become darker. 

Tyler looked down but I could see the tiny smile on his lips. "It's my friend's birthday. He just turned twenty- one and he wanted to go to Vegas.”

He laughed to himself softly. "I have no idea why either. He's more of a protective dad than an actual college student." 

"So what're you doing outside then?"

He shrugged his shoulders and looked back up at me. "I didn't want to come at all. But he's my best friend so I stuck it out for a few hours."

He looked back to the front doors before laughing. "He's on his own now."

I grinned at him. Tyler had a small frame and he had his arms wrapped around himself to protect from the blowing wind. It rustled his short brown hair as he looked down with a smile. Dimples dipped into the softness of his cheeks and I could almost feel my heart swell as I noticed them.

I shook my head a bit, scrunching up my forehead. _Get a grip_.

"I'll still be here to drive him home after he pisses his money away. We'll grab Taco Bell or something to nurse his hangover." He chuckled.

"That's the only way to do it."

Tyler nodded in agreement. 

"Please tell me we're not actually going to that shit stain of a restaurant." A voice groaned beside me.

I immediately swiveled to see who had said that and how this was the second time tonight someone had snuck up on me.

Tyler leaned forward to look at him. "Oh shut up, Dallon. I know you have late night hookups with Taco Bell at least once a month."

He sighed. "And like hookups go, I am usually filled with regret and have to make sure I don't have any diseases afterwards."

Both me and Tyler turned to him. "Gross."

He shrugged. "Indeed." He stuffed a hand in the pocket of his dress pants before going to stand next to Tyler.

I quickly recogized the man's stellar height and the brown strands that curled over his forehead. He was the boy that was staring at Brendon earlier. The one that was already marriage material. And it certainly looked like it based on what he was wearing.

Unlike his friend's comfortable clothing, Dallon was in a full two piece suit. His long limbs dressed in slick black, a coat of the same color was thrown over his shoulder like his fingers holding it were hooks, and a sharp white button down.

"What's with the getup?" I asked, giving Dallon a once over.

He sighed. "Tyler said that I can't wear what I normally would in Vegas. So instead he made me dress like Lurch from the Addams Family."

Tyler immediately perked up. "Well maybe if you straightened your posture up you would look a little less like Lurch and a little more fuckable." He gestured up and down the man. His voice was very matter of fact and it made me grin.

"Infallible logic." I chucked, my gaze stuck on Tyler.

Tyler turned and smiled at me widely, his teeth bright and on display, and I felt my breath falter as I grinned back, my cheeks beginning to ache just from how hard he made me smile. How much I _wanted_ to smile around him.

Suddenly, the glass doors behind us were pushed open forcefully. The cheap metal frames cracked against the opposite side of the building and immediately caused spiderwebs to splinter across the glass. It only took a few moments before the door completely shattered, spitting glass fragments across the concrete steps. Brendon stood in the middle of it all, his arms outstretched across the threshold and his feet crunching on shards. 

His eyes slowly looked down to the ground before meeting mine. His eyes were wide with terror. "Josh, we have to go." 

He quickly ran down the steps before grabbing my arm starting to tug me away. I pulled back, forcing him to skip back towards me. 

"Woah, dude what the hell happened?" I asked quickly, eyeing the doors and keeping my ears keen for the sound of footsteps.

Brendon tugged on my hand again, his hazel eyes scared. "Josh, we have to go." He repeated. "We have to go, now."

I flicked my eyes to Tyler before moving them back to Brendon.

"That, that guy. Some shit happened. He's into some things. I- I don't know-" Brendon was frantic, his eyes moving across the ground and his words skittering around as his mind raced. He finally met my gaze and pulled at my wrist again.

"He's gonna kill me, I swear. We have to go now, Josh please."

I'd never seen Brendon so fearful and close to tears like this. I furrowed my brows and nodded, finally allowing him to pull me away. My eyes flicked to Tyler's worried ones one last time before running alongside Brendon to the car.

I pulled my keys out, quickly unlocking it and throwing myself inside. The car squealed out of its parking spot as we drove out and away from the casino, a burning tire smell being the only remnants of our presence.

We were speeding down the street, the old car sputtering angrily as I pushed its limits. 

"Brendon, tell me what happened." I said seriously. 

The boy's hand was caught in his hair as his eyes flickered across the floor. "I- I don't know, I just, I got this weird vibe and, and-" Brendon was barely breathing and his eyes were growing red as tears glossed over his eyes. 

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, swiping tears down his face. "And, and he started asking me all these weird questions- I don't know!" He cried out.

He heaved out hollow breaths, his chest expanding widely but oxygen barely getting through his lungs. I spun the wheel, turning off into the dirt before we reached any major road. I switched gears and turned to Brendon.

He had curled into his knees, his head hiding in his thighs and his arms encircling his neck. He was gasping and whining into his legs. My chest ached as my mind raced, unsure of what to do.

Brendon's heartbeat was so loud, I could hear it in my brain as if it were my own, and it was racing. It pulsed and thumped like a hard punch against his chest without remorse. It was like his heart wasn't apart of himself anymore. It was more like a parasite, trying to beat its way out of Brendon's chest to escape the panic that was stressing its host.

I began to lose my own breath, my wet lips pleading. "B, c-calm down, it's okay."

He shook violently when I reached out to rub his back. Hot tears were streaming down my face before I even noticed I was crying. I wiped my face quickly, helping nothing. "B, please calm down." I whimpered. My voice was cracking upon the words.

I couldn't help him. I didn't know how. 

Brendon had gotten nervous and anxious before, but I could just pat his leg or rub his shoulder with some reassuring words and he would be okay. Nothing this severe had ever happened. I'd never seen him so terrified before. 

My lips quivered as Brendon moved closer to the door and away from my hand. I immediately retracted my arm and ran my fingers through my hair instead. I rubbed my face again but I couldn't stop crying.

My face was a dark pink and slick with tears. I couldn't look at Brendon anymore. I closed my eyes.

"J-Just, just listen. Think about anything else. Listen to someone else's conversation. Think about them." I breathed heavily, praying I wasn't making it worse.

"I'll, I'll do it too." I assured.

I slowed my breathing, focusing my ears on the casino a few miles back, listening for the first thing I could find.

I shifted my focus between drunken laughter, arcade-like slot machine sound effects, angry yelling, clinking glass, and unfamiliar voices; almost looking for something. Then one voice caught my attention.

Tyler's.

I recognized it immediately and I felt a smile lift my lips. It's difficult, almost impossible to find anything familiar when looking through a crowd or searching for a voice; especially when you haven't made more than one friend in the past two decades. So I zeroed in on him, his voice, his words.

_"You're such a sucker, Dallon!" He laughed._

I could imagine the grin he had plastered on his face. 

 _"What?" Dallon chuckled. "He was cute!"_  

Tyler laughed again and I could picture the way he would shake his head at Dallon like he did at me.

_"So you stared at him for ten minutes straight? That's kinda not okay, dude. A little bit on the creepy side of flirting." Tyler said._

I felt a hand grab mine and I fluttered my eyes open. Brendon was sitting up now and holding my hand, his eyes closed with tear streaks on his flushed pink cheeks. He was struggling to breathe still but I could see he was trying. Desperately trying.

I nodded my head and squeezed his hand. "Yeah, there you go. You've got this B. Just keep listening." I said quietly.

His breathing was shaky as he inhaled but he nodded. His lips trembled as a few more tears spilled down his cheeks, following the wet trails that were already curving down his face. 

I squeezed his hand again and leaned back, trying to find Tyler again. 

I didn't like that I was making myself comfortable with his voice. But I was starved. I couldn't make friends, especifically with humans, knowing what I was. I knew I couldn't. But I _liked_ him. He was nice. He made me smile. He's someone I'd want to be friends with if I hadn't changed twenty- four years ago. 

It was a fantasy and I knew it, but I let myself have it for once. When was the next time I'd be able to have something as pleasant as this in my life again? Even if it was fleeting? 

I closed my eyes, leaning back further into the leather seat.

_"What the hell, man!" Tyler answered to someone angrily. "Get off of me!"_

I furrowed my brows.

_"We know you know him, we were just wondering what you were all chatting about." A deep voice spoke with mock sweetness dripping from his words._

I heard shoes sliding across pavement and small palms pushing against a hard chest. There were four heartbeats there. 

_"We weren't chatting about anything! We were both just hanging outside the casino!" Tyler's heartbeat was fast as he spoke. He was scared._

_"You know the thing is," The deeper voice began. "I don't fucking believe you."_

My eyes snapped open, my ears still stuck on their voices. I brought my hand out of Brendon's and immediately to the gearshift, pulling it out of park. 

Brendon opened his eyes, worry glossing over them and panic almost instantly swamping his system again. "W-What're you doing, Josh?" His voice was high and broken. 

"Something's wrong."

I pulled the steering wheel and turned the car, blowing out clouds of dust behind it as we went back onto the road, but going back towards the casino. 

Brendon sat up. "W-Where are we going, why aren't we going on the freeway?" He asked, startled. His eyes stuttered between me and the road. 

"Something's wrong, Brendon." I repeated. "We need to go back."

Immediately, the boy started shaking his head, his eyes filling with tears again. "No, no, no, Josh please. We can't go back there." His voice shook as he couldn't even begin to try to contain his sobs.

"Joshua, stop!" He cried. His lips were a dark red and wet with saliva as he weeped.

The sound of my full name startled me for a moment, but I didn't stop driving. "You can stay in the car, B. It'll only be a few minutes." 

Brendon just kept crying, his hands covering his face.

I breathed harshly through my nose. _He'll be okay. It'll only be five minutes._

I didn't even know what I was planning to do once we got there, but I wasn't really thinking that far ahead. I was only thinking about Tyler.

The voices became closer, two heart rates were faster than the others and I focused on them. I searched for their barely recognizable faces as we drove closer.

_"Stop it! Let go of me!" Tyler yelled._

I pushed my foot on the gas harder, the car protesting underneath me. I was being stupid, absolutely stupid and reckless but I didn't care and I should have. But I let it take over me as we swerved into the parking lot and I saw him. 

Tyler was struggling against a shorter blonde. His friend, Dallon, was being gripped by a woman with the same bleached hair, only longer and brushing down her back. They were pushed up against the same handrails from earlier, but only with caution tape stretched across the shattered entrance and fear evident in their eyes.

Brendon was hyperventilating in the passenger seat as I stopped the car.

I leaned in close "Brendon-"

"Get off me!" He yelled.

I backed away, my throat closing. I felt like I could choke from how badly I was trying to keep what little composure I had left and not just burst into tears again. "I'll be right back okay? I promise."

"Please don't leave me." He whimpered out. His hands were pulling on his hair as his demeanor changed. "They're gonna kill me."

"No they won't, I would never let anything happen to you." I assured.

I begged for the slightest sense of permission from him, looking back and seeing Tyler and Dallon pushed up against a wall now, strangers' hands on the backs of their necks. "I promise you, I'll be right back. I _promise_."

I turned back, beginning to open the door. "I love you, Bren. I promise I'll be back."

I leaned out of the car, slamming the _Chevelle_ door hard and locking it.

"Hey!" I barked, trying to keep my shaking hands at my sides. "The hell do you think you're doing?" I kept my voice loud, intimidating.

The two blondes turned, but kept their grips tight on their respective targets. When they made eye contact with me though, they both dropped their hands, focusing all their attention on me as dark smiles crept up both of their faces.

I went to stand in front of both Tyler and Dallon, facing the bleached pair head on. Not only did they have matching hair, but matching black leather jackets on as well. Which for some reason bothered me while simultaneously adding another blanketing layer of fear onto my shoulders.

"What do you want with them?" I asked.

They smirked. "We were just looking for you."

I held my hand out behind my back, my keys resting in my palm. 

"Well you have me now, so you can stop harassing them." I said calmly, my voice deep. I still felt the weight of the ring of keys in my hand. I nudged Tyler's stomach with my fingers. 

The blondes glanced at each other. 

The man spoke. "Fine. You're more important anyways."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the weight was gone and feet were quick behind me as I heard the two men run. Their footsteps echoed across the dirty road and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding when I heard them going in the right direction.

The two blondes held a predatory gaze towards me and I clenched my jaw. I'd never seen either of these people before. So what the hell could they want from me?

I tried to keep my breathing steady as I eyed them, trying to search for anything even vaguely familiar about them. I scrunched up my eyebrows curiously. The more I stared at the man in the duo the more I began to recognize certain aspects. The scruff of his face, the dark roots of his dry, bleached hair.

 _He was the boy that Brendon took to the hotel._ I took a step back at the realization but they both merely followed me with one step forward.

"Why don't you come with us-" The man began as he reached for my wrist.

I immediately shied away from him, dropping my shoulder down and bringing my hand behind my back.

He stopped then looked up at me with a smile. His teeth were wicked. "We're just gonna talk."

He lunged, grabbing my wrist tightly. My chest thudded loudly as I swung my arm around and out of his grip before punching him straight in the jaw.

Vampires had a few things going for them in the fighting department, but I mostly relied on Reflexes and Strength when I was forced to pick a fight. Which wasn't often, but somehow, with one punch I heard a hard click sound off somewhere in the bone structure of his jaw and I knew I had dislocated it. His feet stumbled and successfully knocked into the girl beside him. I barely had time to watch them tumble to the ground before I was running. I still wasn't a fighter.

My knuckles ached dully as I sprinted across the parking lot, keeping my gaze on the headlights of my car in its spot. I could hear them getting up and the anger in their grunting breaths and I ran faster. Tyler and Dallon were in the backseat, Brendon still in the passenger.

I felt my chest heave in a breath with relief. They were safe. 

I threw open the door to the car, the entire frame of the vehicle shaking as I got in and slammed the door closed. The car's tires screeched as I pulled out.

I looked behind me, seeing the two blondes within just a few running steps of my car. I pushed on the gas, flying backwards and hitting them with the tail end of the car. Their bodies thumped painfully hard against the trunk, the metal probably denting with both of our combined speeds. I smirked while Brendon and pretty much everyone else in the car except me yelled as we crashed into them.

"Fuck!" Was exclaimed behind the car. 

But, to my surprise– and probably everyone else's– they didn't stay down, wounded in the asphalt.

They stood.

Blonde hair tangled, and blood dribbling down the side of the woman's face while thickly scraping the arms of the man like brutal strokes of a devilish paintbrush. Heads cocked with menacing disbelief, but smirking as if they were impressed. The man’s jaw was angled too far to the right, and was dangling his mouth open. 

Dallon and Tyler were looking out the back window, their terrified eyes locked with the blondes' murderous stares. 

"HOLY SHIT!" They yelled simulatneously.

I was about to drive away but I couldn’t stop watching the blondes. They knew something we didn’t. 

The woman’s eyes shifted to the man beside her. Their gazes locked, and then she lifted her fists in the air before slamming them down on the trunk of the car. 

The entire car jolted down roughly, all of our bodies becoming mere puppets as our limbs flailed as we seemed to fall with the frame of the car. The _Chevelle_  trembled, metal rattled, and screams overtook the car. 

I didn’t wait for the car to stop shaking as I shifted the gears and drove off, skidding onto the main road and watching rocks spit at the ankles of the two blondes. 

They let us go. They stood in their spots, faces focused on our car with Nevada dirt staining their black clothing and dark red dripping down their bodies. Dust still billowed around them, like a dark fog in a noir film. A silent warning.

_We'll be back._

Chills ran through my body, fear heavy in my eyes as I finally broke their gaze, bringing my attention to the road.

"Who-Who were those guys?" Tyler asked frantically, his voice high as his eyes darted between me and the casino that was growing smaller behind us.

"I don't know _._ " I said through clenched teeth.

"How did they even do that?" Dallon leaned forward, his gaze heavy and dark as he fought the urge to turn around. 

"I _don't know_." I glared back at them.

The car shook against the road, a dull roar in my ears. There was wheezing beside me.  

"Hey, are you okay?" Dallon's voice suddenly softened.

My brows drew togther at the change in his voice, looking at him through the rearview and following his gaze.

I finally glanced at Brendon. He was staring at me, with wide glossy eyes. The whites of his eyes were rubbed pink and licked with tears. I finally noticed how much he was shaking. 

His breaths were wavering as he began to sob. "What the hell was that, Josh!" He sputtered out, fearful. "How, How did they do that?"

My eyes flickered from him to the back of the car cautiously.

Tyler and Dallon were sat in their seats, shock etched in their faces and fear bulging Tyler's eyes while concern was flooding Dallon's.

"W-What if they're following us?" Brendon cried out, holding his face in his hands

His limbs were weak, they were struggling just holding up his own head. He wheezed deeply, quick strangled breaths coming out of his mouth.

Dallon moved closer towards the middle of the backseat, leaning towards Brendon. "Hey, hey it's alright." He said calmly.

Brendon looked up at him, almost like he finally recognized him. His wide eyes were desperate and trusting as he stared at Dallon. His lungs sounded as if they were shriveling with every attempt of a breath Brendon tried, like a hand squeezing his windpipe.

Dallon shifted in his seat, coming closer. "Slow down." He coaxed. "Just breathe."

The words almost made Brendon wheeze faster, even though he nodded along.

Dallon slowly brought his hands up, hovering near Brendon's chest. "Hey, hey look at me. Breathe."

His voice was soft. Their eyes never left each other, they bored into each other's brown irises deeply. Dallon slowly brought his hands closer to his face, before gently setting them on Brendon's cheeks.

He wasn't scared by the man's touch like he was by mine, and my chest grew heavy.

"In..." Dallon breathed for several seconds and Brendon nodded, his shallow breaths, growing longer.

"Hold." Dallon swiped his fingers underneath Brendon's eyes swollen, wiping away the few straggling tears left behind.

"And out..." He breathed out slowly for a long time. He repeated the exercise several times with the boy.

"There, There good job..." He smiled after a few minutes. "You did really well."

Brendon was still frazzled, but his eyes were just a little less crazed than before and they showed the smallest hint of the usual sparkle in his eye. He still had a small wheeze in his voice, like the air had thinned around him but the longer he stared at Dallon, the slower his breathing became.

Dallon nodded to him, a small smile on his face and his hands still holding the boy's cheeks. Then, out of nowhere, Brendon thrust forward, throwing himself onto Dallon and wrapping his arms around the man's shoulders.

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as Dallon smiled, hugging him back. Brendon was holding onto him like a lifeline. His chin digging into the shoulder of the white collared shirt he wore and his eyes shut tightly.

"M-M'name's Dallon by the way." He chuckled nervously.

" _Sucker_." Tyler muttered in the back. 

I looked up to the rear view to see Tyler smirking in the backseat, pressed up against the window. I grinned at him and he huffed a laugh out through his nose before looking down. He wiped some of the stray tears that still trailed down his face, everyone in the car just beginning to come down from the brink of hysteria. 

Brendon finally pulled away from Dallon but remained close. "M-" He breathed out. "B... Bre..." He whispered, his voice still hoarse.

Dallon only smiled at him. "You don't have to tell me your name yet. It's okay." He smiled softly. "I can just call you B for now."

I don't know why, but I immediately tensed when he said that. I felt my shoulders shake from how tightly I was gripping the leather of the steering wheel, the deep, protruding veins in my arms growing in size. But Brendon nodded along in agreement.

Dallon looked at him, his gaze soft and smile gentle. Everything he seemed to do with Brendon was gentle.

Brendon _beamed_.


	5. ROTTEN

If this were a movie, the camera would be shaking without relief. It would be wobbling constantly as the car drove against a particularly gravelly road through the night. The worn tires (that I would probably need to change at our next stop) we're hitting every rock and pothole without fail. It would truly capture the awkward quiet that had taken over the dark blue vehicle that was bumping along this little road.

The instability of the car's movements halted any attempts at sleep despite the exhaustion that weighed down many members of the car. Brendon's eyelids were resting atop muddy brown lakes of drowsiness, his shoulders sinking down but his body refusing to let himself completely relax.

He was curled up against the armrest in the center console, his eyelids fluttering. Dallon had moved to rest his heavy head against the back of Brendon's seat, his long brown strands of hair flopping over the shoulder of the seat. I'm sure his skull was rattling with the vibrations of the car, but he didn't seem to mind.

Brendon shifted in his seat for the fourth time in the past few minutes and I glanced at him and finally sighed, turning the wheel off to the right and coming to a stop.

My gaze moved to the rear view mirror. "Hey Tyler, you awake back there?"

"Yes." He said without opening his eyes.

I rested my hand on Brendon's shoulder. "Hey, B?"

He stirred in response and I shook him a little. "Hey, B why don't you go to the backseat, yeah? You'll probably be able to get some sleep back there. You'll have more room." I smiled encouragingly.

Brendon didn't open his eyes, only scrunching up his face as he whined tiredly. He was in the sleepy stage where you couldn't really reason, and the only reaction you'd get out of them would be a grumbled complaint.

I glanced to the back again. Dallon was sitting up, leaning towards Brendon attentively even though his eyes were weary.

I didn't want to say it. I actually felt my blood heat angrily as I tried to open my mouth. I sighed again.

"You can sleep next to Dallon?" I tried quietly, trying to keep the growl from escaping my throat. "He'll make sure you fall asleep, safe and sound okay?"

I tried to ignore the way my chest tightened as he rolled to the door, clumsily pulling on the handle.

"You okay with switching?" I glanced back to Tyler.

He mumbled an agreement and the two tired boys took lazy semi-circles to opposite sides of the car.

Tyler collapsed into the seat next to me, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. I couldn't control my stare. His eyes were muted pink from lack of sleep, and I'm sure the stress everyone had been under in one way or another tonight.

I heard Brendon reach the door that Tyler left open. His body swayed as he crawled on his hands and knees across the leather before reaching Dallon, immediately going to rest his drowsy, drunken head in his lap. The taller man wasn't startled or seemed uncomfortable with the sudden invasion of his space. He instead, grabbed his black coat he had dropped from the floor and flared it out over Brendon's body like a blanket before he reached over him to close the door.

I sighed.  _At least now he'll sleep._

I glanced at Tyler, my hand on the gear.

"Seatbelt."

He finally looked at me, but with eyes that bordered on disgust. Or maybe it was more confusion. Or both.

"We hit  _two people_ who literally looked like they were capable of murder with your car tonight. You're worried about a seatbelt?"

I held his stare, despite how doubtfully he looked at me.

"Well, yeah."

He didn't break our gaze, only looking at me with eyes that shifted emotions. I could barely detect them by how fast he switched between them. He finally rolled his shoulders and buckled in, facing forward.

I brought the car out of park and continued driving.

Not much had been exchanged between any of us after we drove away from the possible crime. Mostly hysterical questions for what had happened, who those strangers were, and what they could want with us. With me.

I had no answers. But certainly a lot more questions. Just thinking about the intense, almost inhuman stare the woman made with us as she shook the entire car, was enough to make me shiver again. I'd only seen such immense strength displayed when it was me, and sometimes Brendon if I riled him up enough to do something stupid like punch through a wall. They were injured, bleeding, and yet didn't seem to be in any pain at all. So could they be cursed like me? Other vampires that somehow knew me? Wanted me?

For what, I didn't know. All I could do was drive. Drive away and make sure they didn't hurt any of us. Didn't hurt  _them_. I didn't let my mind wander further from what had already happened. I could only think about how it could've been a lot worse. They were confident. They  _knew_  us, and they looked like they could snap our necks in a heartbeat.

I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment before opening them again, trying to even my breathing. I decided to focus on the people in my car instead. They were the people that mattered. They were the ones that could've gotten hurt.

Tyler and Dallon didn't ask where we were going or request any specific place to be dropped off. Maybe they just wanted to be far away from Vegas, like us.

In a way, it felt like they were trusting me, even if it was a split second decision out of fear or survival. I was glad at least for that.

Brendon was passed out in the backseat, Dallon rubbing his back in slow circles as he leaned his own head against the cold glass window. Brendon was emotionally and physically exhausted from the extreme panic he went under, so maybe he really did just need more room to stretch out and rest.

I clenched the steering wheel tightly for a few moments at the lie, shaking my head.

"You really don't know what happened do you?"

I turned to my right. Tyler's head was resting on the same shoulder of the seat that Brendon was just minutes before, craning his neck up toward me and soft brown eyes rolled up to meet mine.

I didn't say anything, unsure of what he meant.

"You didn't know those guys." He said, as if he had just figured it out himself.

Tyler hadn't broken my gaze and I was starting to feel my throat dry. "No." I choked out

His eyes were calm, no longer obstructed from the fog of drowsiness that was plaguing everyone else. The gaze he held made it seem like you could confess murder to him and he would understand.

I finally fluttered my eyes, quickly bringing my attention back to the road and away from Tyler. There was something about the way he stared at me. There was no ill intent, but it still felt invasive. Like he was trying to sift through my words, to figure out the things I wasn't saying. I shifted in my seat, looking more uncomfortable than I really was.

"I-I was thinking of finding," I cleared my throat, trying to ease the tension that only I was feeling. "-finding a motel for the night."

I looked back at him and he was already staring.

"Is that okay?" I asked quietly, my voice scratchy. I knew I was ducking my head, trying to seem timid.  _I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I don't think I could even try if I wanted to._

Tyler nodded, not looking away. "Yeah."

I gave a firm nod before looking back to the dark road ahead.

I cleared my throat, trying to think about something else. Then I noticed something.

The smell.

I knew that I was the only one that noticed it– and if Brendon was awake, he would've too–but my eyes widened at the sudden stench.

I realized that the body had been long forgotten since the events of the night unfolded. I glanced nervously in the rear view at the trunk. There was no way we could get rid of it now, not with our two new passengers. Luckily, their human noses probably wouldn't detect the smell for maybe another day or so, and we didn't know if they would even stick around for that long.

But for now, their presence guaranteed the discreet removal of the body to be impossible. My best bet would be trying to get away once everyone was asleep at the motel, but who knew how long we'd be stuck in the car until then.

"What's on your mind?"

I quickly looked to Tyler. His gaze was stuck on me again –maybe it had never left– but it was more calculating this time around. He had sat up a bit too.

"Hm?" I grunted.

"Something's on your mind." He said plainly.

I blinked, bringing my eyes away from him. "W-Well yeah, we've kinda been through a lot tonight." I let out a dry chuckle and immediately regretted it. I smiled sheepishly even though I couldn't look him in the eye.

I hated and loved staring at him. His gaze was absolutely mesmerizing, but he stared straight into your thoughts and looked like he was reading your mind. It terrified me but  _god_  the understanding in his eyes was like nothing I had ever seen.

Tyler laughed, rolling his head back before I felt his eyes burning into the side of my head again. "It's like you're not even trying."

"What?"

" _Lying_." He laughed. "You're not even trying to sound like you're  _not_  lying." He smiled with his crooked teeth.

I huffed a laugh. Tyler kept his smile soft, a gentle yawn escaping him as his eyelids began to get heavy. "I really hope you're not a murderer." He mumbled, rolling his head away from me and situating himself to face forward.

My breath caught in my throat as I widened my eyes at him. "W-What?"

He chuckled again, careless. Like he knew so much more than he said, but so little of it mattered.

"You're kind of a stranger." He laughed. "Me and my best friend got in a stranger's car in Vegas. It's not really a smart decision. You could be a murderer for all I know."

I felt his eyes on me again. "I just really hope you're not."

An artificial green glow of a sign faded into the right side of my vision and I squinted my eyes. I turned the wheel off onto the closest road, feeling the car bump along it.

"I think we might've found our home for the night." I smiled, the VACANCY sign glowing brighter as we turned into the lot.

The closer we got to the motel that was shadowed by a dank limelight, the more is looked like it was falling apart. Upon first glance, the bulbed border around the  _MOTEL_ letters was completely burnt out and left the "L" flickering inconsistently. The once-white parking lot lines in front of the building had been almost entirely scraped off of the crumbling asphalt, forcing us to park in a place we could only hope was acceptable and wouldn't get us towed.

I set the car into park and looked to the backseat. Both men in the back were asleep with mouths ajar. Their breaths were heavy and sluggish and I sighed.

"I'll leave em' to sleep." I said, beginning to take my seatbelt off.

Tyler followed suit. "I'll come with you." He said before I could protest. We walked side by side with our hands in our pockets across the deteriorating road that smelt of spilt gasoline. 

The crooked bell on the door jingled as we walked into the small reception office. It's walls were yellowed and faded with decades-old stains. It stunk the same sad and tired smell of every other motel I'd been in across the country. Somehow, they all eventually managed to smell like unwashed carpet, rotten books, and something along the lines of despair or regret. It was odd and I'm pretty sure it was the reason Tyler kept pulling his hands out of his pockets to rub his nose.

The ground thudded with heavy footsteps and soon a beer-bellied man with a dirty five-o-clock shadow walked out of the back. I could sense Tyler's apprehension and it made me smirk to myself. 

"What?" was grumbled in our general direction and I stepped towards the desk while Tyler stayed closer to the door. 

"We need two rooms, two beds each."

The man turned around slowly, revealing a thin greasy ponytail splayed out against his back. I'm pretty sure I heard a gag being covered up with a cough behind me. Two keys were grabbed off the wall and the man turned back to me.

"$100."

"Fuck you." I said immediately, feeling anger flush over my brain. My nostrils flared as Tyler scoffed out my name in disbelief, almost in warning.

"Forty." I said, leaning over the desk now. I usually never bartered over the prices of anything, usually never needing to, but having Tyler behind me spectating reminded me of how I needed to look. Who I needed to be in front of him.  _Human_. 

 _Persuading_ was not allowed for as long as he was around. I hated having to put that wall up because of him, since everything about him made me want to do the exact opposite.

"You're dreaming, princess." The man laughed, already turning back around to put the keys back.

"How about eighty?" Tyler was stepping forward, his hands digging to the bottom of his pockets, pulling out crumpled cash. 

I widened my eyes at him, a silent  _what are you doing?_

He kept eye contact with me as he flattened out $20 bills across the desk. "Forty each." He shrugged, nodding his head at me. I rolled my eyes as I shoved my hand in my jean pocket and set the money on the desk. I signed the first name that came to mind in the tattered binder and swiped the keys from the man. I walked out of the building without waiting for Tyler. 

My face was hot and my grip on the keys was so tight, it was leaving pink ridged indents on the flesh of my palm. I heard the bell jingle once again as Tyler skittered behind me, catching up to my side. 

"Hey, what's up?" He said, almost out of breath. He could've been frowning or smiling but I wouldn't look at him. I didn't answer.

He slowed down a bit. "Are you mad?"

"M'not." I muttered quickly through pursed lips.

I clenched my fists around the metal edges of the keys harder. I was irritated, but I couldn't really find a single reason as to why. However, Tyler's carefree voice beside me wasn't helping. Something about the way he took initiative, showed control over the situation bothered me. He had handled it far better and certainly more calmly than I did. I sped up my footsteps, feeling my forehead begin to hurt from how hard my eyebrows were furrowed. 

Tyler ran up to me, his fingers brushing my arm. "Josh-" 

I shook his touch off, walking faster. I couldn't hear him say my name, let the whole thing pass through his lips. I turned quickly, my feet dragging to a stop as my face got within inches of Tyler's in seconds. My chest heaved with heavy breaths as I stared at Tyler's startled expression.

"I do the talking,  _not you._ " I spit in his face. He was stunned, letting the frosted fog of my breath cloud over his features. "You don't have control over me or what I do." I continued, letting whatever words wanted release to come out of my mouth. "I do everything, okay?" I sounded like I was trying to defend myself for a crime he hadn't even known I'd committed. 

The words rung in my ears and I felt the regret echo in my chest, like sonar signals radiating from my sternum. I watched as his face melted into disgust. I couldn't tear my eyes away from him and the amazement on his face. He couldn't believe how quickly I did a 180 on him, how quick I was to blame everything on him. 

Tyler's fingers found my arm again, but this time the movement wasn't gentle, it was forceful. His fingers pried open the grip I had on the keys in my hands and pulled one away. 

"Well I don't need your fucking help either." He scoffed, walking towards the car.

"Dal!" He called out as he swung the door open. "Let's go."

Soon enough, he was walking past me in my frozen state, but this time with Dallon in tow. 

" _Prick._ " He muttered.

I couldn't even turn to watch him go. 

Brendon finally stumbled up to me. The young boy was rubbing at his tried eyes as he swayed, confusion and discomfort screwing up his face but saying nothing. My jaw was locked when I finally took a breath and grumbled "Come on." under my breath, beginning to walk toward our room.

 

()

 

Brendon snored beside me, his face pressed against my arm and his pillow that he was effectively getting drool over. The man had lied. It was one bed per room and one pillow per bed, ours almost immediately being claimed by Brendon as soon as his body hit the mattress.

Guilt weighed on my chest as my restless mind jolted between every terrible thing I had said last night. Every unsaid word, unnecessary chatter, obvious lie, troubled outburst and deathly quiet silence churned in my mind and made my stomach sick.  A constant bounce between _I should've said this_ and  _ **why**  did I say that_.

I had so little experience and exposure to people that I couldn't help but find myself overthinking every possible thing I had done wrong and was sure would be misinterpreted and incriminate me in some way. Especially with Tyler.  

I had certainly made myself nauseous with how terribly I'd handled the situation with Brendon, but for some reason, I felt like I could be forgiven. I'd known him for awhile, he knew how I was, and like it or not, I was kind of his only friend and he mine. We could talk about it or leave it behind and things would stay the same between us. But  _Tyler_. He had no obligation to talk to me again. No ties, no hurt feelings on his part. I was the  _prick_  and I didn't deserve to be forgiven. He'd get off scot-free.

I screwed my eyes shut, feeling my throat close. I couldn't believe how pathetic I sounded, how attached I already felt, and how desperate I was to have him look at me with the understanding in his eyes that told me everything was okay. I didn't deserve that  but  _god_  did I want it.

I couldn't get the disgusted look on his face out of my head, the bitterness in his breath, and the finality in his last words to me. How quick his demeanor toward me changed. Sweat rolled down my brow and I could already feel bile rising in my throat. I threw the covers off of me and stumbled to my feet and across the floor. My face was hot and the cool plastic of the sink I gripped shocked chills onto my skin. 

I kicked the door behind me closed and heaved in the humid air. Everything was wrong, I'd done  _everything_  wrong. I had no right to do this, to act like this. I didn't know him, but I already felt like I couldn't lose him. I couldn't lose someone who had become more than a stranger to me. 

I knew I was being irrational. I knew it was the stress of the night, the vulnerability of darkness, and this damn boiling hot room I was in that was making me manic. But indulged in it. It was emotions that made me sweat but it was real.

I turned the sink on, cupping my hands and splashing freezing water on to my face. The water flew out of the faucet haphazardly, pounding against the edges of the sink, the sound practically deafening. I leaned on the edges of the sink, my head hanging down and water dripping off of my nose.

_Get. A grip._

I shut the water off, along with the lights on my way out. I settled down next to Brendon's form, the water streaked down my neck and chest causing my limbs to stick to the sheets. My jaw locked, I stared up at the empty ceiling.

 

()

 

Sunlight shot through the dusty blinds and I groaned, my body stiff. I could barely turn on my side, all of my muscles tightening from the strain I was putting on them. My eyes were dry and tired as I squinted away from the brightness of the window.

 _"You sure, Ty?"_ I heard Dallon's voice easily coming through the wall. We must have had side by side rooms. I glanced over at Brendon to see if he had stirred at all. He had his face pressed into his pillow, mouth parted, dead asleep. 

_"Yes, now come on."_

I swiftly turned my head to the wall in front of me at the sound of Tyler's voice. I furrowed my brows and sat up, going against my body's wishes.

 _"We don't have a ride."_ Was argued.

 _"I called a taxi while you were asleep, now grab your shit and let's_ go. _"_

I had to will my body to stay planted in its spot. I bit on the inside of my cheek, swelling the area with how hard I was chewing on it. 

Clothing rustled.

A door opened.

A door closed.

I tasted iron on my tongue.

An engine growled outside, then the motel and the roads outside of it were quiet. I sat there for a beat longer, my eyes lingering on our door. It felt like all the air had been sucked from my atmosphere. I swallowed, heaving in a stale breath and laying back down on the uncomfortable sheets, unable to close my eyes again as a heaviness made home in my chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a really slow writer so chapters arent frequent but i do definitely try my best on them to make sure they are interesting and long and gay. so waits will be long but i hope yall liked this :) much love


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